PPSH-41
Summary: The PPSh-41 (pistolet-pulemyot Shpagina; Russian: Пистолет-пулемёт Шпагина; "Shpagin machine pistol"); is a Sovietsubmachine gun designed by Georgi Shpagin as a cheap, reliable, and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. Common nicknames are "pe-pe-sha" from its three-letter prefix and "papasha" (Russian: папаша), meaning "daddy". The PPSh is a magazine-fed selective fire submachine gun using an open-bolt, blowback action. Made largely of stampedsteel, it can be loaded with either a box or drum magazine, and fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev pistol round. The PPSh saw extensive combat use during World War II and the Korean War. It was one of the major infantry weapons of the Soviet Armed Forces during World War II. Around six million PPSh-41s were manufactured. In the form of the Chinese Type 50 (a licensed copy), it was still being used by Vietnamese Viet Cong as late as 1970. According to the 2002 edition of the Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II the PPSh was still in use with irregular military forces. History and Development: The impetus for the development of the PPSh came partly from the Winter War against Finland, where the Finnish Army employed the Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun as a highly effective tool for close-quarter fighting in forests and built-up urban areas. A submachine gun, the PPD-40, was subsequently rushed into mass production in 1940, but it was expensive to manufacture, both in terms of materials and labor, because it used numerous milled metal parts, particularly its receiver. Shpagin's main idea for cost reduction was to use metal stamping for the production of most parts; that concept was revolutionary in the Soviet Union at the time. Shpagin created a prototype PPSh in September 1940, which also featured a simple gas compensator designed to prevent the muzzle from rising during bursts; this improved shot grouping by about 70% relative to the PPD.11 The new weapon was produced in a network of factories in Moscow, with high-level local party members made directly responsible for meeting production targets. A few hundred weapons were produced in November 1941 and another 155,000 were made during the next five months. By spring 1942, the PPSh factories were producing roughly 3,000 units a day.12Soviet production figures for 1942 indicate that almost 1.5 million units were produced.11 The PPSh-41 is a classic example of a design adapted for mass production (other examples of such wartime design are the M3 submachine gun, MP40, PPS, and the Sten). Its parts (excluding the barrel) could be produced by a relatively unskilled workforce with simple equipment available in an auto repair garage or tin shop, freeing more skilled workers for other tasks. The PPSh-41 uses 87 components compared to 95 for the PPD-40 and the PPSh could be manufactured with an estimated 5.6 machining hours (later revised to 7.3 hours) compared with 13.7 hours for the PPD.1314 Barrel production was often simplified by using barrels for the 7.62mm M1891 Mosin–Nagant rifle: the rifle barrel was cut in half and two PPSh barrels were made from it after machining the chamber for the 7.62mm Soviet submachine gun cartridge.15 After the German Army captured large numbers of the PPSh-41 during World War II, a program was instituted to convert the weapon to the standard German submachine gun cartridge – 9×19mm Parabellum. The Wehrmacht officially adopted the converted PPSh-41 as the "MP41®"; unconverted PPSh-41s were designated "MP717®" and supplied with 7.63×25mm Mauser ammunition (which is dimensionally identical to 7.62×25mm, but slightly less powerful). German-language manuals for the use of captured PPShs were printed and distributed in the Wehrmacht.16 As standard each PPSh-41 came with two factory fitted drum magazines that were matched to the weapon with marked serial numbers. If drum magazines were mixed and used with different serial numbered PPSh-41, a loose fitting could result in poor retention and failure to feed. Drum magazines were superseded by a simpler PPS-42 box-type magazine holding 35 rounds, although an improved drum magazine made from 1 mm thick steel was also introduced in 1944. The PPS, an even simpler submachine gun, was later introduced in Soviet service in 1943, although it did not replace the PPSh-41 during the war. The Soviet Union also experimented with the PPSh-41 in a close air support anti-personnel role, mounting dozens of the submachine guns in forward fuselage racks on the Tu-2sh variant of the Tupolev Tu-2 bomber. More than five million PPSh submachine guns were produced by the end of the war. The Soviets would often equip platoons and sometimes entire companies with the weapon, giving them excellent short-range firepower. Thousands more were dropped behind enemy lines in order to equip Soviet partisans to disrupt German supply lines and communications. In-Game: In game you will be able to use this gun as the standard-issue SMG of the Soviet team. This weapon is sometimes equipped with the NCO class. The PPSH magazine is a little more powerful than the German counterpart, the MP-40.